ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Home Hardware Stores Limited continues to reorganize its executive team. The latest move is the naming of Darrin Noble to the role of vice-president, store operations and Burford Paint & Home Products. The store ops duties are in addition to Noble’s current position as vice-president and general manager of Home Hardware’s paint and chemicals division, Burford Paint & Home Products.

Store operations was previously designated as sales; the new role reflects Home’s recent efforts to strategically reorganize its marketing and sales, both of which were formerly under Rick McNabb, who left the company last summer. On the marketing side, Rob Wallace will continue to lead the marketing division in his role as senior marketing director.

“Darrin has played a key role in driving our dealer success throughout his tenure with Home Hardware,” says Kevin Macnab, president and CEO of Home Hardware Stores. “He is a proven leader who will bring a strategic and results-oriented approach to this position and drive our growth strategy.”

Macnab himself joined as head of the company just over six months ago.

Noble has some 35 years of experience in the paint industry and was named VP and GM at the Burford paint factory in December 2011. In taking on store ops, he assumes some of the duties formerly overseen by Eric Konecsni, who served as Home’s VP of store operations until his retirement at the end of 2014.

TUSTIN, Calif. — Consolidation of the Canadian building materials industry is being hastened by a handful of major U.S. players.

One, GMS, acquired WSB Titan last spring for $800 million. That deal effectively saw the country’s largest gypsum supply dealer, which includes Slegg Lumber and BC Ceilings, fall under U.S. ownership.

Foundation Building Materials, Inc. (FBM) a giant California-based specialty drywall distributor, is another U.S. company actively looking for new acquisitions—on both sides of the border. Earlier this year, it made its latest acquisition in this country, and more are rumoured to be in the works.

The latest is Builders’ Supplies Limited, an independent GSD with three locations in the Greater Toronto Area. The deal is expected to add up to US$24 million to FBM’s top line for the remainder of 2019.

Builders Supplies has been supplying industrial and commercial building materials to the GTA for 85 years. “We’re excited Builders’ Supply will be joining the FBM network. This acquisition will expand our geographic reach into the non-residential downtown Toronto market and enhance our service capabilities to the greater Ontario province,” said Ruben Mendoza, FBM’s president and CEO.

Foundation had net sales of US$2 billion across North America in 2018. The company carries a range of wallboard, suspended ceilings systems and metal framing products and operates 170 branches across the U.S. and Canada. It has been even more aggressive in making acquisitions and opening new locations in the U.S. than it has in Canada. Six months ago, it bought Agan Drywall Supply, which has three locations in South Dakota. Last August, it purchased Commercial Interior and Exterior Supply Company (CIESCO), with seven locations in Pennsylvania, and at the end of 2018 it opened a new outlet in Charlotte, N.C.

In Canada, store locations are for the most part former Winroc locations that were bought from Superior Plus Corp. in 2016 and constituted FBM’s initial entry into Canada. Those outlets have all been renamed FBM and are spread mainly through the West, with eight in British Columbia, seven in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, one in Manitoba and nine in Ontario.

Foundation has no stores east of the Greater Toronto Area. Del-Pro Building Supplies in Whitby, just east of Toronto, is the company’s eastern-most location. Foundation acquired the company on November 1, 2017 from Del-Pro’s founders, Mark Ralston and Dylan Riendeau.

COLOGNE, Germany — Alibaba, the giant online seller, will be front and centre at this year’s Global DIY Summit in Dublin, June 5 to 7. The face of Chinese competition has visibly changed in the past five years and Andreas Kerschner (shown left), category group leader for the Alibaba Group, will address this topic in the Summit’s keynote speech under the title of “Alibaba’s B2C Marketplace Tmall as Gateway to China for European Brands”.

Another highlight of the Global DIY Summit will be a keynote by John Venhuizen, CEO and president of Ace Hardware. The head of the world’s largest hardware retail co-op will speak about management and service for independent retailers.

The Global DIY Summit is the world’s key event for retailers and manufacturers alike from the home improvement and garden centre industry to exchange views of current and future developments within the global market.

This event is being jointly hosted by the two leading European DIY professional organizations, EDRA (European DIY-Retail Association) and fediyma (European Federation of DIY Manufacturers), which in combination form ghin, the Global Home Improvement Network. The Summit runs from June 5 to 7 at the Convention Centre Dublin. Click here for speaker information and to register.

TORONTO — Last month’s Canadian Tire Canvas Backyard Living event showcased more than just the company’s line of patio furniture. Having acquired Vermont Castings in 2017, the company took the opportunity to promote its newly launched line of barbecues.

James Elson, Canadian Tire’s AVP for product development, heads up the team that has taken the 40-year-old brand and made it new to Canadian Tire. He says his team saw an opportunity in the barbecue space with a company that already had excellent brand equity but could be made even more relevant and meaningful for Canadian consumers.

“We went to market and we asked what people are looking for in a barbecue,” says Elson. “And we took their feedback and built something from the ground up.”

As with Canadian Tire’s Canvas outdoor products, Elson says an important consideration for his design team was building a product that could withstand Canadian weather.

Vermont Casting’s legacy is cast iron, and that was an important factor in the design of these barbecues. Built with a cast-iron lid, the material is more durable than aluminum, and better for retaining heat for all-weather barbecue enthusiasts.

And while functionality is important, there was equal thought invested in the product’s visual appeal. The lid was designed with a Victoria arch, a different shape from the typical barbecue, and Elson predicts it will make a statement in people’s backyards.

Elson was brought on to the Canadian Tire team when the company acquired the Vermont Castings label two years ago. He says he’s excited about the investment the company has made in making the barbecue line its own.

“This is a different mandate. This is not private label like you see elsewhere, we’re looking for what matters to Canadians,” says Elson. “There’s a lot of work and thought that is going into it and it’s really exciting to see a retailer that’s willing to do that.”

Carol Tomé, CFO and executive vice president of corporate services at The Home Depot, has decided to retire on August 31, 2019, after 24 years with the company. She was named CFO in May 2001 and given the additional role of executive vice president of corporate services in January 2007. Richard McPhail, senior vice president of finance control and administration, will be promoted to executive vice president and CFO following Tomé’s retirement. He joined the company in 2005.

John Penner has joined GoFor Industries as partner success manager. GoFor is a web and mobile app for on-demand delivery of building materials and equipment for the home improvement and construction industries. The company provides its own fleet of trucks and drivers to get products to customers and job sites. Best remembered as RONA’s business development manager for Western Canada in the early part of the century, Penner was most recently GM at Blackjack Fabrication in Calgary.

Derek Matysik has been appointed vice president and general manager of Shop Vac Canada. A 25-year veteran of the home improvement industry, he was most recently director of sales and Canada business manager at Campbell Hausfeld.

...that there are all kinds of neat features on our amazing Hardlines website? For example, you can easily search through a comprehensive archive of the Hardlines newsletter dating back more than a decade! Just click here to find an easy-to-read list of past issues.

VICTORIA ― Slegg Building Materials on Vancouver Island recently held its annual pro show. Taking over a Junior A hockey arena in the Greater Victoria Area, the company bussed in contractors from all over the island, resulting in record attendance of 1,200 pros and builders. “It was our largest event yet, both on the contractor and the vendor side,” says Tim Urquhart, president of Slegg. He notes that this year’s event also attracted about 50 architects and designers.

BOUCHERVILLE, Que. ― RONA Matériaux Pont-Masson recently had a grand opening for its sixth store. Located in the borough of Pierrefonds-Roxboro in Montreal’s West Island, the 94,000-square-foot outlet is the affiliate’s first store on the island. It includes a 9,000-square-foot sales floor, a 15,000-square-foot indoor lumber yard and a 70,000-square-foot outdoor lumber yard. Founded by Richard Bailey and now run by his sons Éric and Stéphane, the business has three other stores in Quebec and two in Ontario. The company will celebrate its 40th anniversary in August.

TORONTO ― The Retail Council of Canada will award its 2019 Canadian Grocery Industry Grand Prix Lifetime Achievement Award to the Sobey family. Chair Emeritus David Sobey and his brother Donald, chair emeritus of Empire Co., will accept the award at a gala in late May.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. ― A new Lowe’s initiative is encouraging young people to consider careers in the skilled trades. Generation T, or Gen T for short, aims to fill three million jobs in the trades that could open up by 2028. Mike Mitchell, director of trade skills at Lowe’s Cos., has spoken to high school students about the high earning potential in the trades during “trade immersion” sessions.    

SUPPLIER NEWS

VANCOUVER ― West Fraser Timber’s Q1 earnings fell as production and demand slowed. The company posted a loss of $5 million, or $0.07 per share, compared to a $197 million profit (EPS of $2.53) a year ago. Sales of $1.24 billion were down from $1.27 billion the previous quarter and $1.36 billion in Q1 of 2018. Adjusted earnings came to $22 million, or $0.32 per share, compared to $229 million ($2.96) a year ago.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. ― Stanley Black & Decker reports its net income for the first quarter came to $169.9 million, or $1.13 per share. Revenues for the quarter reached $3.33 billion.

LANCASTER, Pa. ― Armstrong World Industries reported Q1 diluted earnings of $0.73 per share, down slightly from $0.76 a year ago as poor weather took its toll in Canada and the U.S. Midwest. Legal fees related to the settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit earlier this month also contributed to the loss, as did higher tax and interest charges. Despite this, net sales rose to $242.1 million, from $227.3 million in Q1 of last year. Operating income jumped by about 10% to $54.7 million.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Total construction activity in the U.S. for March reached $1.28 trillion, down 0.9% from the previous month. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

NOTED

The NRHA All-Industry Conference is running this week in conjunction with the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. The conference will feature keynotes from True Value CEO and President John Hartmann (“Unlocking True Value”) and Phillip Helms, regional VP of Central Network Retail Group (“A Changing Approach to Retail”). The NRHA’s Top Guns Awards will honour top performers in the industry while the Retailers’ Choice Awards will highlight hot new products. Show delegates can attend the All-Industry Conference free of charge.

OVERHEARD

“We’re seeing the impact of government interference, including the provincial speculation tax and the national mortgage stress test rules playing a part, not in a good way, in slowing things down.”
―Tim Urquhart, president of Slegg Building Materials on Vancouver Island, commenting on the slowdown in the housing market in that market.

OUT & ABOUT

David Chestnut and Michael McLarney are in Las Vegas all this week at the National Hardware Show. We hope to see you as we walk the show and at the CHHMA’s illustrious Maple Leaf Night Reception on Tuesday evening. Got a hot tip or a new product? Email Michael anytime or text him on the show floor at 647-209-5663!